- It makes me very happy to be able
to notify you that the ultimate demise
of the big American family sedan has been delayed
at least a little bit, because we now have this,
the new 2023 Honda Accord.
So, what, you're gonna tell me that,
because it's a Honda,
it can't be considered the epitome
of the American family sedan.
Well, according to Honda, Americans have bought more Accords
than any other passenger car in the last 50 years,
and the thing's built in Ohio.
So, I mean, those two qualifications
pretty much guarantee its status,
in my mind, as the ultimate American of family sedan,
but as its competitors have started to ride off
into the sunset, I mean, there's no more Chevy Malibu,
there's no more Ford Fusion.
Honda still says that the Accord does very well for them,
and so, they've updated it
and given us this 11th generation version,
and I hope you like hybrids,
because, boy, do we have a hybrid.
The biggest and most obvious change
to the '23 Accord is the styling.
It's been cleaned up considerably.
Gone is that heavy chrome brow
that they used to have over the front end
and they've given it a much cleaner look,
both to the front end and all the way down the sides.
I don't know about you, but if you take a look
at this more upright front end, it's a bit more angular,
and I actually see some new Ford Mustang in the front end,
which is a little unusual,
but, frankly, it looks really good,
especially, down the side.
You've got this really strong character line going
from the front all the way down
to the back where you've got new taillights
out back that really do look completely different.
The '23 Accord retains its fastback roofline shape
with a really good sloping arc,
but they've done a couple things
like cleaning up this D-pillar art here.
It no longer has that weird up kink
that you saw in the '22 Accord,
and then we currently see in the Civic as well.
The glass slopes down at a really nice angle here
and you have a very short trunk as well,
but this is still a trunk.
This is not a hatchback.
The glass is fixed.
All of it leads down to this full width strip
of LED taillights, which is new for '23.
That looks a lot sleeker, a lot more futuristic,
and gives the entire Accord a cleaner look.
Powering the new '23 Accord will be a choice
of two power trains.
The LX and EX trim levels, the base models,
are going to get a turbocharged, 1.5 liter, four cylinder,
making 192 horsepower and 192 pounds feet of torque,
and if that doesn't sound like a whole lot
for a car this big, really not that much for a car this big,
but you have an option of the hybrid power train,
which is actually going to power
over 50% of Honda's volume according to the company.
Now, that one makes 204 system horsepower
and 242 pounds feet of torque.
That's their next generation two motor hybrid system.
Honda says that the hybrid is going to be a lot
of fun to drive, more than the current one is,
but we have to look at some of the competition here.
When you look at the new Toyota Crown, for instance,
it's base hybrid makes more horsepower
than this Accord hybrid does,
and its performance max version makes 340 horsepower.
That's almost 140 more horsepower
than the Accord hybrid is going to make,
and I wouldn't necessarily call the Crown
all that much fun to drive.
So. with Honda telling me that this is really going
to be a fun to drive Honda Accord hybrid,
I'm gonna have to file that into the,
you're gonna have to show me file.
If you like the interior
of the new Honda Civic and the Honda CR-V,
you're gonna be pretty happy with what they've done
with the 11th generation Accord as well.
The corporate design theme
for those two vehicles is really quite present
in the Accord as well, and it looks just as good here
as it does in those other two vehicles.
You've got the mesh pattern in the dash
that hides the air vents,
which is really kind of a neat touch,
but the Accord also has a much more digital footprint inside
than it did before.
There's a 10.2 inch digital display screen
replacing the gauges,
that's going to be standard across the board
in all trim levels of the new Accord,
but that touchscreen over there is something else.
The normal standard touchscreen for the Accord
is going to be a seven inch unit,
which is kind of on the small side,
but you can opt for this 12.3 inch touchscreen,
which is, frankly, on the large side.
That's the largest one Honda has ever offered.
If you get it in the top Touring model, it will also come
with something called Google built-in, which brings a lot
of the Google functionality into the vehicle itself.
Now, in order for that to work as you want it to,
you've gotta have some pretty strong data connections
for either the car or your phone,
or some of the voice commands we found
can be a little bit sketchy, but, frankly,
if you're living somewhere where the data signal is good,
it'll work pretty well for you.
A couple of really key, interesting things to point out
about the new interior is that it still has buttons.
They haven't gone
to a completely touch sensitive panel interior
like a number of competitors have.
The climate control still has knobs,
still has switches, and more interestingly,
there's still a gear shift in here as well.
You don't have the typical push-button transmission
that we've seen in a number of Honda crossovers and SUVs.
You've still got something to grab onto and actually shift,
and as long as that thing still stays in here,
it's okay in my book.
Backseat room is still, really, very good.
There's tons of leg room back there,
although head room can be a little bit short,
given that this one has a moon roof
and it does have a dramatic sloping roof line,
but look at this trunk.
Look how much room is in this trunk.
You could fit all kinds of suitcases in here.
You really still think you need an SUV?
So, if you are one of those people remaining
who still wants a sedan over an SUV,
well, frankly, look at this thing.
The new 11th generation accord is sleek, it's slick,
it's got a fuel efficient hybrid powertrain.
It's supposedly more fun to drive.
We'll let you know about that one in the future.
This really does seem
like an excellent option for sedan tenders.
Now we don't know pricing and we don't know fuel economy.
Both of those are gonna be released closer to the vehicles
on sale date, which we are expecting to be January of 2023,
so, right around the corner.
Now, when we have all of that additional information,
you'll be able to look everything up on cars.com.